Friday 21 October 2011

Speaking of innovative...

Three members from the Swedish vocal group Erato sings Call Your Girlfriend. Originally by Robyn, it is now performed by Ebba Lovisa, Amanda Wikström and Petra Brohäll - using spread (?) packages as instruments..!

Innovative Sweden

One hundred years ago Sweden was one of the poorest countries in Europe. Today it's ranked as the world's most innovative country, and a world leader in many research areas. This is a journey through some of the fields in which Swedish research excels.

Thursday 20 October 2011

Stockholm hotel offers room exclusively for bloggers

Blogger’s Inn is the next step in the Nordic hotel chain, Scandic’s, effort to raise the living standard in their hotels. With the help of Frida Ramstedt, who runs the design blog Trendenser.se, Scandic has developed a ”Blogger’s Inn” room at the new lifestyle hotel Scandic Grand Central in Stockholm, Sweden.

Bloggers and entrepreneurs who have job related errands in Stockholm may apply to live cost-free in the concept room being tested at Scandic Grand Central. Frida Ramstedt of Trendenser, a highly acclaimed blog based out of Sweden, has been a part of the development and thought process since the beginning, helping Scandic develop a market research survey and plan for outfitting the room.

The room’s amenities and fixings, carefully tailored to the needs and desires of digital entrepreneurs, reflect the results of a thorough market survey. Scandic circulated a survey of questions regarding hotel habits and demands among 200 of Sweden’s most influential bloggers in the following categories: fashion, family/mother/father, design/interiors/photo, lifestyle, music/film/literature/computer games, food/drink, PR/advertising/social media and sports/hobbies.

A survey showed that approximately 6 of 10 bloggers (56%) stay in a hotel when they visit Stockholm. 7 of 10 of the questioned bloggers (70.1%) have been forced to turn down invitations to blog events, press days or trade shows in Stockholm due to the high cost of lodging. The bloggers’ most important tools during travel are their laptops, digital cameras, chargers and USB-cords. Only 15.2% travel with an iPad/e-book reader. However, 82% of the questioned bloggers would use an iPad/e-book reader if it were available in the hotel room.

The hotel’s acoustic bar has every chance of becoming Stockholm’s best cocktail bar, with live performances several times a week. If you enjoy people watching, this is the place to be!

For more information, please contact:
malin.nyberg@visitsweden.com

About Trendenser.se
Trendenser.se is a daily website dedicated to home and interior design run by the
Swedish editor Frida Ramstedt. Launched in September 2005, Trendenser features
store and product reviews, trend forecasting, design hotels, travelling-, city- and gift
guides, DIY projects, recipes, and personal reports from different interior design events
in Scandinavia. In addition Trendenser also covers international design trends from
furniture fairs around the world. The site/blog is updated frequently (with an average of
2-3 posts a day) and attracts a core group of devoted readers who are interested in
interior design. Trendenser's audience stops by on a regular basis to check out the
latest news, reviews and recommendations for products and services. The site/blog
currently has 40.000-46.000 readers each week, mainly women between the age of 25-
45.

Book Launch: You don´t look THAT old!

Sweden’s best-selling doctor-author-standup comedian Richard Fuchs is coming to the UK on the 3rd of November to launch his new book You don´t look that old! (£9.99).

In this humorous and friendly guide to all things that affect us as we age, Fuchs takes a look at subjects as diverse as hair, changing partners, glasses and plastic surgery. This is a very funny book with a touch of seriousness, no matter whether you've just reached 25 or forgotten when you were 65. You will find this book funny and a little bit useful no matter how old you are or how old you look. It is filled with wisdom and humour relating to the ageing process, from Signs of Ageing to Food for Wrinkies and from Hobbies to Plastic Surgery.

The Author is available for interview
Rickard Fuchs is a medical practitioner and best-selling author, serious lecturer and stand-up comedian. His books have been at the top of the bestsellers list on several occasions and he has sold more than two million books in his native Sweden. He has been published in 20 countries worldwide. His latest book Have A Nicer Day, was twice named book of the week in the Daily Mail.

Book launch:
Thursday 3 November 2011
6pm - 7.30pm
Embassy of Sweden Reception Suite
5 Upper Montagu Street  London W1H 2AG
RSVP
YDLTO@carltonbooks.co.uk

Monday 17 October 2011

Spaceport Sweden introduces its first space tourism product: northern lights flights

The collaborators Spaceport Sweden, ICEHOTEL, Swedavia/Kiruna Airport and Scandinavian Airlink, are launching an exclusive space tourism product that brings you closer to the magical and mythical northern lights: northern lights flights.

”The northern lights are a natural space phenomenon. The phenomenon is also the base to Swedish space activities and research, which started 60 years ago. Northern lights flights are Spaceport Sweden’s first space tourism product and with it we offer an exclusive possibility to see and experience the mythical northern lights from a front row seat”, says Karin Nilsdotter, CEO at Spaceport Sweden.

The Kiruna region is situated within the auroral zone and has among the best prerequisites in the world to see northern lights. There are several climate zones in the region that together with good weather conditions increases the chances of seeing northern lights. Moreover, northern lights are predicted to become more and more frequent over the next few years due to increased activity on the sun, according to the Institute for Space Physics in Kiruna, Sweden.

The premier flight takes place 15th of January 2012 and on it is Renata Chlumska, member of Spaceport Sweden’s Advisory Board and Sweden’s first female space tourist.

”Space tourism is not only a future utopia – it happens here and now. Sweden has through Spaceport Sweden taken a leading position in establishing this new business and that’s fantastic. I look forward to learn more about and experience the space phenomenon northern lights”, says Renata Chlumska.

The premier flights will be followed by three more flights the 5th, 12th and 19th of February. The tour starts at ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi with a short presentation about northern lights and a transfer to Spaceport Sweden where an airplane with seats for nine passengers will take you above the clouds with the northern lights outside the airplane windows.

”We’re looking at a completely new and up and coming industry where Spaceport Sweden’s goal is to make space available to anyone by developing innovative services and experiences that are unique to the world and where space is the platform. This will create atractiveness for the whole of Sweden”, says Karin Nilsdotter.

The Northern Lights Flights can be booked via Discover The World as of 17th of October 2011. There are three types of package deals to choose between: a basic, deluxe and a charter package deal that is bookable all days between 1st of January and 15th of March 2012.

Provocative Swedish comedy back on the London stage


Photo: Helena Sandklef
Stand-up comedian Magnus Betnér is returning to Britain to once again have us in stitches over his reflections and remarks on contemporary society, culture, religion and not least politics, starting in London on 2 November and finishing in Edinburgh on 6 November.

With over 10 years behind him as a TV and stand-up comedian back in Sweden, Betnér is one of few Scandinavian comedian who have ventured further afield and is making a name for himself in the UK and the States. Betnér’s frank attitude and in-your-face monologues are a sharp contrast to the reserved and polite veneer that Swedes are often associated with abroad. Non the less he has gained recognition in Sweden and beyond for daring to bring some of the most touchy subjects of contemporary Europen society onto the comedy stage and although it is certainly not for the faint-hearted nor the politically correct, it has taken him to the fore-front of Swedish comedy and gotten him several awards appointed by his industry colleagues.

You can find out more about Betnér as well as his tour plan and where to buy tickets on his website http://www.magnusbetner.com/in-english/blog/.

Thursday 13 October 2011

Sweden in the top ten Wallpaper* list


Villa Alba, in Saltsjobaden, Stockholm, designed by Swedish architects Widjedal Racki Bergerhoff.
Photo: Ake E:son Lindman

Swedish fashion label Altewai.Saome Photo: Duanne Nasis

Wallpaper*, the international design, fashion and lifestyle magazine is celebrating the best and brightest names from the world’s ten leading style and design nations. This year, the list includes Sweden.

Shining a spotlight on its favourite destinations, Wallpaper* is highlighting 20 hand-picked happenings from each country. The Swedish edit, spread across eight pages in the November issue, includes a sourdough hotel, multicultural fashion designers and Stockholm’s new generation of estate agents who are reinventing the industry. Wallpaper* editor-in-chief Tony Chambers says: "Despite facing stiff competition from its neighbours, Sweden is leading the new wave of Scandinavian design and style talent. They are bringing their unique vision to bear on everything from underwear and vodka bottles to stunning private villas and the world of fine-dining. We’ll continue to indulge in the Swedish creative scene in the years to come."

Alongside Sweden are France, USA, China, South Africa, Canada, Portugal, UAE, The Netherlands and Argentina. Each country has been given its own section which celebrates its diverse mix of both rising stars and established names in fashion, art, architecture, design, travel, food and beauty.

The November issue of Wallpaper* about Sweden hits the newsstands on 13 October.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Meet the Swedish Icehotel chef Alexander Meier


Alex Meier with Harrods restaurant manager at the SeaGrill bar

Hello Alex, welcome to London! You have created two dishes for the SeaGrill bar at Harrods, one with arctic char and one crab mousseline. How come you chose those two?
I created them because I think they represent Swedish Lapland. Both dishes are made with fresh Swedish products and if closing your eyes while eating it, you can only imagine how fresh, clean and mysterious the north of Sweden is.

Sounds yummy! What´s your view on Swedish food in general?
This is how it is; we have the forests, the rivers and the mountains that are full of products and flavours. If you make a fusion of these products; mixing for example the traditional Sami food with new fresh ideas, you can create amazing dishes.
You are the head chef at the Swedish Icehotel, what will be on the menu this year?
The new menu for the winter season was created by my F and B manager Stefan Benjaminsson and I. We are going to have exclusive products from Swedish Lapland with a hint of French cuisine. People will be given the chance to taste products from the forests; like reindeer, from the rivers; like arctic char and from the mountains; like cloudberries.
The season at the Icehotel starts on the 3rd of December, what are you looking forward to the most?
For our guests to come and eat and enjoy the greatest food they ever had..!

You are originally from Switzerland, how does it feel living in Sweden?
I love Swedish Lapland. Working with people that are like family to me, I´m living the dream.

Alexander´s dishes will be served at Harrods SeaGrill bar until October 19. To taste these gorgeous ingredients and recipes in their native environment, fly direct to the ICEHOTEL in Swedish Lapland this winter with the experts Discover the World (www.discover-the-world.co.uk/icehotel), three night trips from £1,093 per person.

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Discover the Swedish world at Harrods 3-19 October

Absolut Svea (ginger and apple) with cloudberry liquor in frozen glass served with...
...Swedish Arctic char and crayfish at Harrods SeaGrill bar

The masterchef himself, Alexander Meier, from the Swedish Icehotel

Happy Cinnamon Bun day!

Today, 4 October, is Cinnamon Bun day in Sweden and cafes and shops will stock up with freshly baked wonderful cinnamon buns. 

Cinnamon buns are easy to make at home. They taste best on the day of baking but can also be frozen and enjoyed later after a few minutes in the oven.

Below is one of my favourite recipes. You can also buy these lovely buns in places across the UK, here is list of a few cafes we know of. Where to Fika in the UK
Fredrik Broman/imagebank.sweden.se
Swedish Cinnamon buns

Time: about 2 hours
Makes 25 cinnamon buns

Dough
  • 25 grams yeast, fresh yeast seems to work best but if you can't find it I normally use one or two packets of dried yeast instead
  • 75 grams butter
  • 2 ½ deciliters milk
  • ½ deciliters sugar
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 tea spoon of grounded cardamom
  • around 7 deciliters flour
Filling:
  • 50 grams butter
  • ½ deciliter sugar
  • 2 table spoons cinnamon
Glazing:
  • one egg
  • pearl sugar

With fresh yeast break it up in a bowl. Then melt the butter in a saucepan,  pour in the milk and heat it up to 37C, you can test this by putting your finger in the saucepan, if it’s the same temperature as your finger it’s about 37C. With dry yeast follow the instructions on the package.

Stir in a tiny bit of the milk and butter mix in with the yeast. Then add the rest of the milk and butter. Add salt, sugar and cardamom while stirring.

Add the flour and work the dough into a smooth and elastic dough. You should work the dough for a  least 7 or 8 minutes if you are doing it by hand.
Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rise for about 45 minutes.

Set the oven to 225C.

Use a rolling pin and roll out the dough to a rectangular flat cake, about 20 cm x 50 cm and 1cm thick.
Once rolled out you can use a cheese slicer and slice the butter (make sure the butter is cold if using a slicer) all over the dough. The sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon on top. If you would like more filling just add more of the butter, sugar and cinnamon. Make sure you cover the dough evenly with the filling.

Roll up the dough and cut it in slices that are around 1 ½ centimeters thick.
Put some grease proof paper on a baking tray. To get that lovely sticky bottom of the bun, put bits of butter and some sugar on top of the greaseproof paper. Then put the buns on the paper with enough space in between each bun so they can rise. Cover with a tea towel again and let the buns rise again for about 30 minutes

Whisk the egg and glaze each bun with a little of the egg mix. Sprinkle some pearl sugar on top.

Cook in the middle of the oven for 8 – 10 minutes.

Enjoy!